Published: February 06, 2008 10:09 pm         

Sullivan city official’s future not yet known

‘Loose keys’ allowed council president to gain access to police car, mayor says

SULLIVAN — The ramifications of a Sullivan city official’s drunken driving arrest might not be known until next Tuesday’s public meeting, officials said Wednesday.

Clint D. Lamb, 27, the Sullivan City Council’s District 3 member and board president, was arrested around 1 a.m. Tuesday on an allegation of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Sullivan County sheriff’s deputies reported Lamb had been driving a Sullivan city police car when he got it stuck in a resident’s yard in Shelburn.

Lamb failed three field sobriety tests and his blood-alcohol content later tested 0.12 percent, according to his arrest report. The legal limit for motorists is 0.08.

A Sheriff’s Department report states “two younger passengers” were reported to have been in the police car with Lamb, but their identities and ages have not been released.

Lamb was released from jail on $3,000 bail.

Sullivan County Prosecutor Bob Springer said he did not know the identities of Lamb’s passengers nor anything else about them.

“From the prosecution’s standpoint, Mr. Lamb has been arrested for DUI and he is being charged for DUI,” Springer said, adding that he has had no indication that the city will press for charges concerning the unauthorized possession of the police car.

Mayor Scott Biddle said Wednesday that “it is an unfortunate situation,” and said the Police Department had some “loose keys” around that allowed Lamb to gain access to the vehicle.

“The locks have been re-keyed to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Biddle said the city’s regular council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday but didn’t know whether Lamb’s status as the president or as a councilman would be decided by then or not. Councilman Steven Martindale said that to his understanding, the investigation is still ongoing into the matter and he didn’t know what would be the outcome.

Attempts to contact Lamb at his home were unsuccessful.

Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.

     

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